several seconds. I couldn’t think of any good opening line, so I returned her stare with as much composure as I could. After all, this time she had called me.
“Jason Miller,” she said at last.
“Yes,” I said intelligently.
“You were there when he was zapped, right?”
“I was.”
“Why?”
“I’ve met Arabella Heffernan a few times, so she’d called up to welcome me to the upper ranks and invited me to preview her new exhibit. I assume you’ve talked to Jason?”
Detective Hrivnak shrugged. “He couldn’t remember much. He touched something, then blam, he was knocked out. Or so he says.”
“Will he be all right?”
“Yeah, sure. No permanent damage. Now, Joe Murphy, on the other hand…”
“That was a terrible thing. I assume that’s why I’m here? Do you think his death was deliberate?”
She ignored my questions. “Run me through the time line of your visit, will you?”
I did, from Arabella’s spontaneous invitation until the time I left with Joe, followed by Arabella’s visit to the Society the next morning. I watched the detective make a few notes, but not many. “That’s really all I can tell you.”
Detective Hrivnak sat back in her creaking chair. “So you knew the dead guy?”
“I wouldn’t say I knew him. I’d never met him before that day, but he saw that I was upset and we had coffee after… Jason’s accident.”
“He have any ideas about what happened?”
“No. He told me he was an electrician, and he’d been working on the wiring, but he had no idea how it could have happened. He told me everything had been thoroughly checked.”
Detective Hrivnak changed topics abruptly. “What’s Heffernan’s reputation like?”
Did that mean my part in the investigation of Joe’s death was over? “You mean in the arts community?” When she nodded, I went on. “I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about her. Let’s Play means everything to her, and I think she’s done a great job keeping it child friendly. It must be a temptation these days to throw in trendy electronic games and such, but she’s kept the exhibits and the programs simple and educational at the same time. I admire her. I like her, too.” I took a deep breath. “Was the wiring tampered with, with the intent to do harm?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? You got any ideas?”
That was a surprise: she was asking me for my opinion? “Me? No. Since two different people working there were hurt, it doesn’t seem likely that it was specifically directed toward either of them. Heck,
“Uh-huh,” Detective Hrivnak said noncommittally. She stood up abruptly. “Thanks for coming by.”
Apparently the meeting was over. I felt deflated. I’m not sure what my talk could have added to the detective’s information, other than confirming the time line she already had. I’d never pretended to have any piercing insights into what had happened, or why, or how. Was it even possible to rig up a major electrical shock that would act selectively? Definitely not my area of expertise.
I made my way back to the Society in a distracted mood, stopping to pick up a sandwich and coffee along the way. Eric was seated at his desk when I walked in, a neat stack of pink phone messages lined up in front of him.
He gave me a big grin. “So they didn’t arrest you?”
“No, not even close. Did you get out to eat?”
“Sure did. But I wanted to be here when you came back.”
“Trying to impress the boss? You’re doing a fine job-keep it up. I’ll take those messages. Anything urgent I need to deal with?”
“No, ma’am. Everything’s under control.”
I had my doubts, but I didn’t want to disillusion him. I retreated to my office to return some phone calls.
Latoya appeared at two, and I gestured to her to sit. “You wanted to talk to me?”
She nodded. “Yes. I thought I’d let things shake out for a bit, but now I feel we need to talk.”
“I agree. I’m sorry I’ve been so busy, but it’s been a rocky transition. And an unusual one, given the circumstances. But then, you know that.” I was curious as to why she had asked for this meeting. I hoped it wasn’t to tell me that she was leaving-I didn’t want to have to try to replace a senior position at the moment.
As if reading my thoughts, she said, “I’m not quitting, if that’s what you think.” She gave me a perfunctory smile. “I know I haven’t been very good at communicating with you in the past, and I want that to change.”
I nodded. “I appreciate your saying that, because, frankly, I need you. But only if you want to be here. Things are difficult right now, but I want to know that you’re totally committed to working through this.”
“I am. What I really wanted to do was update you on what’s happening with Alfred’s position.”
Alfred Findley had been the Society’s registrar, which meant that he’d been in charge of keeping track of what we had and where we had last stowed it, which was not an easy job. His death had thrown us all for a loop, and I’d been praying that he had left his computer records in a form that someone else-either his former boss Latoya, or a new hire-could understand.
“I’ve installed his tracking program on my own computer and uploaded his files,” Latoya began. “I think I have things pretty well figured out, or at least well enough to explain to whoever we hire to replace him.” I breathed an internal sigh of relief-that was welcome news. “You saw the job description I drafted? Melanie’s posted that to the online sites, and it has or will appear in several of the print media shortly. Since our acquisitions are currently on hold, we’re not losing any ground. There have been a few responses, and Melanie has given me a couple of resumes, but I’m not going to hurry this, and in any case it’s a slow time of year.”
“Fair enough. I’m happy to let you handle that, since you know what qualifications are needed, better than I do, at any rate. Is there anything you would change about the position?”
She considered briefly. “Not really. It requires someone who is systematic and thorough, and has at least some knowledge of historic items so that he or she can describe them accurately. Those are my top priorities.”
I wondered if I should add something to her description of the position. Latoya was by no means a tyrant, but she did need to find someone who could stand up to her. Alfred had never learned how to do that. But then, Alfred had never stood up to anyone, as far as I could tell. Still, I wasn’t going to interfere. Either I trusted Latoya to do her job or I didn’t. Right now I needed to trust her. “That sounds good. Let me know if you want me to talk to any of your picks, but I trust your judgment.”
“Thank you, Nell. I won’t let you down.” She stood up to leave. At the doorway she said, “Sad thing, that accident at Let’s Play, isn’t it? Maybe we should check our records to see if we’ve ever used the same electricians. I know we had some work done on the fourth floor when we had to replace part of the roof a few years ago. See you later.”
After she’d left, I considered what she’d said. Should I check our own records? Although I was pretty sure that if an electrician looked at what we had in place, he’d run screaming… straight to the city’s building inspectors. One more problem I did not need.
CHAPTER 10
I hauled myself away from my office at quarter to seven. I’d sent Eric home before six, although he’d volunteered to stay if I needed him. I didn’t, but I appreciated his offer. He seemed like a sweet kid, but before I made him an offer of long-term employment I wanted to observe his organizational and administrative skills, and those hadn’t really been tested yet. At the same time, I wasn’t going to insist on a fat resume and years of experience if it turned out that he could do the job. In any case, that was a decision that I did not have to make right this minute, unlike a long list of other items.
